


you found me

by bugheadtrash



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, FP is an alcoholic, Fluff, Halloween season, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Jughead Jones is Not a Southside Serpent, Meet-Cute, Monster House references, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 08:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21032993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugheadtrash/pseuds/bugheadtrash
Summary: Jughead Jones is miserable. Betty Cooper has been rejected.They find each other in an unexpected way. But they also find love.orBetty texts a random number which happens to belong to Jughead.





	you found me

**Author's Note:**

> this is a birthday gift for one of my favourite people, daphne<3  
i hope you had an amazing day, because you deserve it. i love you and i hope you'll like this little surprise (which is the reason why i didn't reply to your latest texts lol)

Jughead’s head felt heavy. After an exhausting morning at school, he came back home, only to find out that his dad was once again missing, probably fulfilling his drinking needs at some bar near the trailer park.

Having to deal with a situation like this was normal for Jughead Jones. His mother left him when he was only 10, taking his baby sister away with her. He hasn’t seen any of them ever since. Instead, he needed to be a parental figure for his own father, who was an alcoholic for the last four years.

Being 13 with a parent who has a drinking problem, while starting high school was definitely an issue. Jughead wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for his best friend, Archie Andrews, who was always there for him and supported him no matter what. Archie, who recently moved out of Riverdale in order to live with his mother in Chicago, after his father’s sudden death. Jughead wished he had more time to help his friend, who was like a brother to him, to cope with Fred’s passing. Mary had other plans for him though. Two days after the funeral, Archie moved into her apartment there, leaving Riverdale and Jughead behind.

The 17-year-old boy had already taken his jacket, ready to go and start looking for his father, when his phone started ringing.

_Tall Boy._

Jughead picked up the phone, curious to know why the middle-aged man called him, especially since his and FP’s fight four days ago.

‘’Hello?’’

_‘’Hey, kid. Where are you?’’ Tall Boy asked with a mysterious tone on his voice._

‘’I was actually about to look for dad. He hasn’t been at home since I left for school,’’ Jughead explained.

_Sigh. ‘’Listen, Jones. There’s something I need to tell you about your father.’’_

_ ━_

A car accident. The words kept echoing inside Jughead’s head. His dad was reckless enough to drive his car after spending his whole day at the Whyte Wyrm, risking a young girl's life. Even though FP’s totally fine, Tall Boy informed his son that he was about to stay in the police cell until Toni Topaz, the teenage girl who was on her motorcycle when FP hit her with the car, got out of the hospital and decided if she desired to press charges.

His life sucked. He didn’t know how to make things better, especially since he couldn’t visit his dad yet. He wanted to talk to someone, anyone who would be willing to listen. His first thought was to call Archie, but he hesitated when he remembered how busy his schedule was.

He probably has his own problems, Jughead considered.

And then his phone dinged, signaling a new message. He picked up the device and stared at the screen, the photo of the town's drive-in, which he had set as a background, distracting him. Good memories of his family together flashed through Jughead's mind, reminding him of a happier life. The boy softly shook his head and focused on the reason why he was holding his phone in the first place.

An unknown number had texted him.

_I’m sorry for bothering you, but are we still on for tonight?_

Jughead could not describe his confusion. Who was that person? Had he made plans with someone from school? No, that couldn’t be it. He usually preferred to spend his time alone, reading Agatha Christie’s _Murder on the Orient Express_ than chat with Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason or any of the girls who were always surrounding them.

He didn’t have the time to text back before he received a new message.

_It’s Betty by the way. From History Class._

Jughead was now sure that he didn’t know this _Betty_. He had never heard of anyone with that name, especially from his History Class. It must totally be a misunderstanding, he concluded. She texted a random person by accident or her date gave her someone else's number on purpose. To avoid her.

It had been two minutes and Jughead had already come with dozens of theories that had to do with that unknown girl. At first, he had decided to ignore Betty. To let her come to the realization that she had made a mistake.

But then, he thought of himself. A 15-year-old Jughead, hopelessly in love (or at least that's what he believed back then) with the extraordinary Sabrina Spellman. After many attempts, he managed to score a date with her, and he was ecstatic. Jughead was supposed to pick her up from Pop's, the place in which she used to work, but instead she found Sabrina sitting in a booth next to Harvey Kinkle, her ex-boyfriend, cuddling and laughing at a joke he had said.

So, no. He wouldn’t let a girl be excited and get ready for a non-existent date.

** _If you’re not working along with Sheriff Keller, then I guess we won’t be seeing each other, Betty. And in case you’re confused, I’m not the person you’re looking for. Wrong number!_ **

The only thing Jughead could do now was to wait. Would she answer? Or would Betty be too embarrassed to say anything? Either way, she wouldn’t get stood up tonight and that made him feel a little bit better.

The dark-haired boy was about to take a shower (he had 5 hours ahead of him until he could visit his father), when he heard his phone’s notification sound, which meant that Betty had indeed texted him back.

_Wait, you’re not Trevor? Oh my God, I feel so stupid, he was the one who saved this number to my phone. I didn’t mean to bother you, I’m really sorry._

Trevor was a typical douche name, but Jughead wasn’t planning on commenting on that fact. Who was he to judge a stranger anyways? He didn’t even know who Betty was. Maybe she was one of those popular girls who dated different boys every month and were always voted as prom queens at the school dances. Or she might be a girl similar to his sister. Her favourite band could be Metallica and her much-loved colour may be black.

What if she wasn’t a high school student though? _God, you’re overthinking again and you’re ignoring Betty. She doesn’t need that, especially after practically being rejected by… Trevor, _Jughead thought.

** _It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting to receive a message from anyone, so you could say it was quite the shock._ **

His phone dinged within a few seconds.

_This might sound weird and you’re not even obligated to answer, but you mentioned something about sheriffs and I guess you got into trouble. Are you okay?_

_ ━_

_ Oh God, oh God, oh God._

Why had she asked him something like that? Why is she always the one who cares about the others, but no one gives a damn about her? Just like Trevor. Toledo’s golden boy, who lived a few blocks away from her. Veronica had assured her he was into her and he was just shy to make a move. _Bullshit_.

Betty deep down knew he wasn’t interested, and he was trying to be polite enough to not break her heart. Her phone’s vibration broke her train of thought, causing an unplanned smile.

** _I don’t know if you are willing to hear about my tragic family life story. _ ** ** _Also, my name's Jughead. I think it’s only fair to introduce myself since you’ve already said your name, even if you didn’t expect to come across a stranger._ **

That boy – Jughead – had some good social skills. Yes, they were only texting each other, but he seemed pretty relaxed and cool about the whole thing. Betty, on the other hand, was practically blushing and it wasn’t just from embarrassment.

With a sigh, she typed her own message before she pressed “send".

_Nice to meet you, Jughead. Well, you’ve already figured out that I don’t have any plans for tonight, so any kind of interaction would be nice. _

She felt so awkward. She _was _awkward. If she could describe herself, she would definitely use that word, along with optimistic and gullible. Gullible enough to trust every single person and end up being disappointed with them.

** _Would it be rude to ask how old you are? Don't get me wrong, I am not a judgmental person, I just don’t wanna start saying depressing shit to a grown-up woman._ **

She laughed out loud at that. Jughead was definitely a straightforward person and she kind of liked that. Betty was not used to spontaneous people, so talking to him was definitely a different experience.

His words made her think that he was probably a teenager too. Not wanting to share his story with an adult made sense and she let him know so.

_Not an adult. I’m 17 and I finish school in a few months. What about you?_

** _I’ll be 18 in a month and it’s my senior year as well. Who would have thought, huh?_ **

Betty smiled and typed her answer.

_Yeah, who would have thought? So, tell me Jughead, what’s your damage? ;)_

_━_

It had been three and a half weeks since Jughead started talking with Betty and he was thankful for that jock who tried to avoid her by giving her a stranger’s number, which happened to be his very own one. She was the sweetest girl he had ever met, and he was always looking forward to their midnight conversations. After hearing about his dad’s problems, she was really supportive and felt comfortable to share her personal problems too. Betty checked on him every day until his father’s release and offered to help him with his math’s homework (his least favourite subject) when he was exhausted after a long day at Riverdale’s police station.

The previous night, she had sent him a picture of herself and Jughead was even more astonished by the girl. Her eyes were lovely, the sparkly green of them reminding him of nature’s prettiness. He knew she was blonde, a characteristic of hers that was usually the reason why he called her a Hitchcock girl, but he never imagined that her hair was that silky and… bright. Jughead was insecure about himself (besides, no one had ever shown any interest in him by that time) and he tried to avoid sending any photo of him, but Betty was persuasive enough to convince him otherwise.

At first, she didn’t say anything. Betty had left him on read for 5 whole minutes, which was long enough to cause him anxiety and make him regret that particular decision.

** _You don’t have to compliment me if you don’t feel like it, Betts. _ **

Still no answer.

** _Well, it’s pretty late so I’ll go get some sleep. Goodnight and sorry if I made you uncomfortable._ **

Jughead had set his phone on the nightstand and he had closed his eyes before he heard a notification sound.

_I was just thinking about how grateful I am for being rejected by Trevor. Goodnight, Juggie<3_

He couldn’t stop thinking about her that night.

━

One of their typical conversations was on-going, and this time they were talking about horror movies. Halloween was around the corner and Jughead had started his horror movie marathon, excited for the spooky season of the year. He was ranting about how underrated ‘’Monster House’’ is when Betty stopped him.

_Jug, can you please go outside for a minute?_

What happened to her all of the sudden?

** _Why, Betts? Am I going to witness my neighbor’s trailer turn into a house of horror? _ **

_Just please do me this favour._

He was utterly confused, but hopeful at the same time? Could she actually…? No, that wouldn’t be possible. Jughead grabbed his jacket and crossed the living room as quietly as he could since his father was fast asleep on the couch. After opening the trailer’s door carefully, he looked outside but saw no one there. He quickly sent a message to Betty.

** _What am I supposed to do now? _ **

_Be patient, Jug ;)_

He would probably look dumb if anyone noticed him standing at his trailer’s doorstep. Five minutes had passed and Jughead was getting impatient when a small rock hit the stairs of his trailer. And then another one. And another one.

Jughead was ready to shout, thinking that Fangs’ brothers were disturbing him, until _she _appeared in front of him.

‘’Is your trailer gonna eat me or am I safe enough, Jones?’’

She was referring to freakin’ Monster House. _His favourite Halloween movie._

‘’Betty…’’

She ran towards him and hugged him so tightly that he thought he was going to die. _At that moment he wouldn’t even complain._

‘’Happy early birthday, Juggie,’’ she told him, those big eyes of hers staring at him and boring into his soul.

_And he was pretty sure those wouldn’t be the only birthday they would celebrate together._

_-fin_

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!  
comments are highly appreciated<3  
you can always find me on tumblr @bugheadsheaven


End file.
